Gu Shen murmured softly, while his fingers caressed the pendant.
The question was already quite apparent.
The pendant faintly sent out a wave of "rejection".
It seemed not too good... Running away just wasn’t a wise choice; below Black Snow Mountain was likely the latter part of the Duolu River, where unknown dangers might lurk.
"Turning back to counterattack... could that be a bad idea?"
Gu Shen squinted his eyes, staring at the jade pendant. If this little thing indeed had consciousness, it would see two skeptical and sharp eyes.
He neither dared to fully trust nor completely distrust the "guidance" of this trinket.
The pendant could do only so much.
If this were a person who could speak, he’d probably be the kind of person who, facing any problem, could only answer yes or no, a living corpse, even if knowing the thoughts in Gu Shen’s mind, still couldn’t give a more precise answer.
Gu Shen chuckled softly.
"Are you trying to say, fight but don’t be reckless... is that what you mean?"
The pendant emitted a strong ripple of admiration.
But in Gu Shen’s eyes, it seemed rather like nonsense.
He felt a bit of a headache, the seven pursuers following him were not AI opponents in a combat cabin; even that "brainless" Bakui was a seasoned elite who had faced real life-and-death battles!
Suddenly, a flash of insight crossed Gu Shen’s mind.
He thought of the peculiarities of this Black Snow Mountain.
"Mirror Dream... Mirror Dream..."
Before setting out, Gu Shen had glimpsed the eerie nature of this Mirror Dream in the building; even Zhong Yuan, at the Fourth Order Peak, had become occasionally dazed, unable to distinguish between reality and illusion after experiencing the Mirror Dream.
Meng Xiao’s team had climbed the mountain, carrying bloodstains on their bodies!
Clearly, they also experienced combat, quite likely against "replicas"... However, these Transcendents chasing him didn’t seem affected by the "Mirror Dream."
According to Gu Shen’s earlier speculation, since he hadn’t dreamt, these people... probably hadn’t dreamt either.
But Zhong Yuan’s team did, implying that Zhong Yuan and his group touched the dreaming "pattern" of Black Snow Mountain, whereas he and Meng Xiao didn’t.
Extending his thoughts to this point.
The pendant vibrated again with "agreement."
"What’s the taboo of Black Snow Mountain? Is it the black snow, some tangible ’pattern point,’ or some spatial touch... or is it..."
Gu Shen’s thoughts solidified over that broken bonfire.
"Or... the light fire?"
After lighting the bonfire with the Phoenix Ring, Zhong Yuan and his team vanished. Although at that time, he happened to receive a spray of black snow water... Thinking carefully, when the black snow descended, Chi Huo did not sense anything particularly unusual.
Pattern points and spatial touch could be ruled out.
Perhaps due to the Sanctuary from the Goddess of Destiny, Gu Shen’s thoughts became crystal clear, as if divinely guided, precisely grasping the key point among countless possibilities!
It was the light fire...
Zhong Yuan’s Phoenix Fire touched Black Snow Mountain’s taboo, causing the "dreaming"!
While he and the group from Light City were safe... not because they didn’t light the fire.
But because his Chi Huo, and Meng Xiao’s fire, were too unique!
One fused with the Netherworld King’s Spark, this Black Snow Mountain teemed with strange and sinister auras, suppressing the Duolu River beneath; most probably it had some tie to the Netherworld King’s means... Gu Shen suspected that the Black Snow Mountain’s "Mirror Dream" simply wouldn’t fall upon him.
This guy was enveloped in the rich aura of Light City’s blessing, shrouded in Divine Fire, even the black snow couldn’t approach him... With such "Divine’s Blessing," the Mirror Dream likely couldn’t descend upon him.
Thinking of this, Gu Shen’s gaze turned icy.
Meng Xiao was indeed powerful.
But no matter how powerful, he was just one person!
Those pursuers... without "Light City’s Blessing," even with other endowments, couldn’t compare to Zhong Yuan’s "Phoenix Fire"!
At this moment they were disconnected from Meng Xiao... If they touched Black Snow Mountain’s taboo, they were entirely likely to be pulled into the Mirror Dream!
At that moment, Gu Shen understood the true meaning behind the pendant’s guidance.
But... not by himself!
He took a deep breath.
The fierce wind howled.
The descent from this snowy mountain was unexpectedly long; after running for over ten minutes, there was still boundless black snow and rolling stones all around.
If not for the unwavering spiritual guidance from the pendant.
Even Gu Shen might doubt... whether he was running in a "dream."
He suddenly turned, looking at the figures rushing from afar.
Under the icy landscape.
Gu Shen’s expression was unusually calm.
He simply stood still, with no intention of retreating.
Bakui widened his eyes, almost unable to believe what he saw... Gu Shen had stopped running?
This young man from East Continent, although he appeared dashing, was in fact a cunning and insidious villain; Gu Shen’s sudden attack with Iron Edge at the mountaintop had left a deep impression on him!
Upon seeing this, Bakui’s first instinct was that there was a trick!
"Beware of the surroundings!"
All the pursuers held their breath, on high alert.
Some of their faces still faintly ached... that was from the wounds slashed by Gu Shen’s Iron Edge, stinging after mixing with the black snow!
The young man standing amid the black snow at the mountain’s base suddenly ran two fingers across his brow.
At most times, the gesture of sweeping across the forehead meant "radiating light"!
But at this moment, it was exactly the opposite.
The cold wind of the long night, and the violently dancing snow in the mountains, all became dense and chilling at this moment—
As the sole "dim light" in the world was extinguished.
Extinguishing the light.
Meant Gu Shen lost the light.
So too did they lose the light.
This eerie "Black Snow Mountain" seemed to suppress everyone’s spiritual power and eyesight... Here, darkness was the most lethal danger; no one would willingly delve into a perpetual void of darkness.
Since leaving the mountaintop, they had been chasing Gu Shen’s "light spot," not worrying about losing track... but now Gu Shen extinguished his "light source," clearly intending to cut off visibility, to shake them off.
They had their means!
With Bakui’s roaring shout, on the seven pursuers, the standard large robes inscribed with "Zhenyue Pattern" simultaneously burst forth with glorious flames!
These bursts of light fire appeared much brighter than "Chi Huo," not because they were of higher quality than "Chi Huo."
In terms of quality, the light fire emitted from the Zhenyue Robe was several levels lower even than the "Phoenix Flame."
But its uniqueness lay in being a "Divine Gifted Robe" from Light City, with a distant and unbreakable resonance with the robe Meng Xiao wore.
One main robe could link many auxiliary robes.
Naturally, forming a "Spiritual Link"!
As an auxiliary robe, illumination was not a problem.
Black Snow Mountain shone brightly.
Bakui, in the darkness, saw the young figure not far away clearly; after extinguishing the fire, Gu Shen really hadn’t moved an inch... he just stood there!
A thousand meters closed in swiftly!
The luminescence of the Zhenyue Robe blossomed like an ocean; a rare daytime scene appeared before Gu Shen. He calmly took in the majestic silver-white view of the snow mountain, also observing the seven ferocious figures charging towards him at full speed.
He neither retreated nor dodged... because this was the moment to validate his guess.
Black snow surged, and evil winds arose!
A blizzard of senseless proportions suddenly surged forth, just like the previous bonfire snow tide, overwhelmingly engulfing the seven-man team erupting with countless lights.
They had touched the taboo.
Black Snow Mountain, the "Mirror Dream" had arrived!
(PS: Due to storyline reasons, it’s difficult to break here, I’m posting a 4K word Chapter tonight! There will be another Chapter early tomorrow!)